Speeches

Now it’s time to write a new generation of stories. They will be written by young men and women, like the young man who wrote me last fall. They will serve openly and proudly. They will be leaders in the civil rights movement of our time. They will endure sacrifice and separation from their loved ones—so that the rest of us don’t have to. Some of them will die for their country—so that the rest of us don’t have to. Let’s recognize their service—and every American’s service—for the precious gift it is. Let us give every American’s service the honor it deserves.

We have, as the Speaker indicated, been here for two months. We've been here for two months and we have not taken a single action to create jobs in America. In fact, we've done two major things that will undermine, in my view, jobs in America.

We’re here today to recognize an historic moment for the people of Southern Sudan. Last week, we learned the results of the independence referendum in Southern Sudan, which showed that an overwhelming majority voted to secede from the north.

The historian Taylor Branch called the men and women of America’s civil rights movement no less than 'the modern founders of democracy.' Today, a leader of that movement was awarded America’s highest civilian honor: the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks this morning at the National Press Club on the need for American leaders to look beyond two-year election cycles to address the challenges facing our country, including job creation, economic growth, and fiscal responsibility. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

When President Obama and the 111th Congress took their oaths of office, America was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We were losing almost 800,000 jobs per month. Over a quarter of the personal wealth in America had been wiped out. We were in a record amount of debt. From the day we began our work, Congress had this overriding goal: stopping the freefall, creating jobs, and building a solid foundation for the future.

Rebuilding America's manufacturing industry is essential to creating well-paying, middle-class jobs, and to ensuring that America can be the world's innovation leader for generations to come. That's why Democrats have focused so much energy on the Make It In America agenda, an effort to strengthen American manufacturing. It is a plan that includes incentives for manufacturing investment, workforce training, encouraging innovation, and fighting for a fair playing field for American companies that compete abroad.

As we work to recover from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, our small businesses remain the job-creating engine of our economy. Supporting small businesses, and making products in America, are key to creating well-paying, secure, middle-class jobs.

I am honored to receive this award, and to join with you in support of the hard work that will bring a Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial to the hallowed ground of the National Mall. It will be a great day when Dr. King, not far from where he delivered his famous speech on the Mall in 1963, is honored among our nation's founders.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks this morning on Democrats’ record on national security and a comprehensive security strategy that uses all of our tools to keep Americans safe at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic & International Studies:

...delivered remarks this morning on the imperative for solving the nation’s fiscal crisis, the need for bipartisan cooperation on this issue, and how to balance economic recovery with long-term deficit reduction, at a Third Way event at Union Station...

When President Obama spoke to the Democratic Caucus this month, he took a moment to remind each of us how and why we were called to public service: ‘We were willing to stand up in the public square, risk loss, risk embarrassment, because we knew in our hearts that something wasn’t right.’

One of our two great parties is now an organization committed to an unprecedented level of lockstep opposition to the president: a ‘Party of No,’ whose political strategy is an investment in failure for our country and paralysis for its institutions...